My four lane highway

We're Off!

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 02:57:37 GMT

Husby and I are sitting in a bar/restaurant at the airport, drinking mojitos and eating some psuedo-Carribean food, waiting to catch our flight to England. Kind of an odd anniversary celebration, but not as strange as some we've had.

We made it down to the airport in good time, thank God. Yesterday, there was - I'm not kidding - a meter of snow in the area along the lake, and the roads south were all closed. ALL of them. If we had been travelling yesterday, we'd have been up the creek. Today, the ski was clear, the sun shining, the roads plowed, and we made it down in plenty of time. Even Little Beige Toyota is safely tucked away at the hotel we'll be staying at when we come home. Hence, the impromptu anniversary dinner.

Happy birthday wishes to windrain10 and msmoat.

Safe travel wishes for msmoat and draycevixen. I'll toast you both with some cider.

I hope to have some time to read and send fb while I'm away - it sounds as if both my fandoms have a bumper crop of goodies on offer for Christmas. Maybe I can even catch up a little with what everybody has been up to now that I'm out of the treadmill of the alma mater and can catch my breath.

I Have Snowflake Cookies!

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:35:43 GMT

From lolabobs and mara_snh and callistosh65.

Thank you, ladies.

Happy Birthday, Nik

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:55:02 GMT

To a lovely fandom friend.

Happy Birthday Glitter Graphics

Happy Thanksgiving, American f-listers

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:20:51 GMT

I wish for you:

Safe travel

Delicious dinners.

Peace with your families and loved ones (or at least the fortitude to put up with them *G*).

A thought for those less fortunate.

Glitter Graphics - GlitterLive.com

Happy Birthday!

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:12:26 GMT

To sunray45

Whose screencaps are always a joy to view, and provide much inspiration.

Happy Birthday Glitter Graphics

Christmas Cards?

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:52:08 GMT

Would anyone on the f-list like a Christmas/holiday card from Canada? I'm doing them waaay early this year because we're leaving well before Christmas.

Note that since I have no drawing or photo skills, these will be just plain old generic cards - no lovely lads or gorgeous guys to be seen.

PM me your addy if you'd like.

Edit to add: I'd love to get some back, too! *BG*

Margaret Atwood's Birthday Party

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:36:32 GMT

Last night husby and I attended a book launch party for Margaret Atwood's latest book, The Year of the Flood

Atwood has been touring all over the world for these events, at which she reads a synopsis, and local people read and perform music from the book. Last night was the last event on the tour, and if I may say so, my home town did her proud. She's been here a few times, and a couple of profs in the English department at the alma mater have become friends with her over the years, so this wasn't just a commercial event, but a friendly one. Atwood is also quite impressed by the land restoration efforts this community has made over the years, and the proceeds from last night's event were donated to our city's land reclamation program, and the creek restoration committee on which I'm a board member. (At other Canadian events, the money was donated to Nature Canada. We're the only ones who got a local donation.)

We started off with a nice dinner at the alma mater (yes, if you give them enough money, food services can produce a decent meal). There were numerous guests from the local environmental and aboriginal communities as well as the culture vulture types. Husby and I were supposed to be sitting with the director of Nature Canada, but he didn't show, so we had a nice evening talking to two ladies, one of whom turned out to be a fairly well-known author herself.

Then, it was down to the auditorium for the evening's festivities. There were some thanks and greetings: a chief from the aboriginal community presented her with an eagle feather, the co-ordinator from the creek restoration group gave her a DVD of our new movie, and husby thanked her on behalf of the reclamation program and announced the planting of a new grove of trees in her honour. And can I just say, with a little bit of spousal pride, that husby looked damn fine and spoke well.

The reading/performance was excellent. Atwood provided a brief narration of the background, and three local performers read selections from their characters' POV. One of the characters is an environmental prophet, who is constructing a science and nature based religion, and so we heard a couple of his sermons. The other two characters are women, caught up in the increasing environmental destruction and social repression and disintegration. The development of the story paints a chilling picture of ever accelerating damage due to pollution and misuse of resources, and the human tendency to dismiss or silence the voices telling us what we don't want to hear.

Also in the book are a series of environmental hymns, which are supposed to be written by the environmental prophet. A selection of them were performed by a local women's a cappella voice choir. They were wonderful. I've heard them before at Christmas concerts and such, and they're always good, but they really did an outstanding job last night. Perfect harmonies and soaring beautiful solos. My favourite song was Oh Sing We Now the Holy Weeds - made for a botanist *G*.

During the dinner, Atwood had said that some of the performances she had taken part in were good, and some she wished they could just stop halfway through. I think last night blew her socks off. She sat there on stage, her smile getting wider with every song, obviously delighted by how much fun the audience was having with the readings and the music. We're an appreciative crowd: we clapped and laughed and whooped and generally had a great time. Not a stuffy old book reading by any means.

And when everything was done, they put up some lyrics on our vid system and the choir and the whole crowd sang a home-composed birthday song in honour of her 71st birthday.

All in all, one of the best evenings I've had this year.

I have to confess that Atwood has never been a favourite author of mine. I know, I know, Canadian national treasure, Booker prize, Giller prize, GG prize, probably get the Nobel if she lives another few years, yadda yadda, but I just can't warm up to her writing. The only one of her books I've ever managed to finish is The Handmaid's Tale. Even her last one, Oryx and Crake, a science fiction, couldn't keep my going through it. But I had the chance to flip through Year of the Flood while waiting in line to get it autographed, and it actually looks interesting. Maybe this is because the environmental theme is very close to my heart right now - I'll have to see how the writing and characters grab me.

Dear Student

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:57:19 GMT

If you're going to plagiarize, at least do it from a website that has some relevance to the subject. Unlike you, we actually understand the topic, and tend to pick up on little details like that.

::headdesk::

Vid Rec for Remembrance Day

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:05:13 GMT

Tell My Father, by Rae Rice.

It's a Starsky and Hutch vid. I can never watch it without a lump in my throat.

Dear Administrator

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:08:14 GMT

Yes, the alma mater is kinda broken.

No, I really don't think your plan is going to fix it.

In fact, it may lead to a combined mob of staff and faculty riding you out of town on a rail.

If what you were after was unity among the underlings, you've succeeded. Anything else - don't hold your breath.

Oh, and BTW? You owe me 64 hours of overtime.

Fruitcake Weekend

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:43:56 GMT

I wasn't going to make Christmas cake this year, since we're going to be away for the whole pre-Christmas period (when there's usually a potluck every couple of days at which I can ~~inflict it on~~ share it with friends and co-workers) but in the end I decided - what the hell. Let's go for it. So on Saturday I bought my dried fruits, and soaked them in brandy and rum all day, and then Sunday morning made the cake. It's my mother-in-law's recipe, and it's huge: almost four pounds of fruit, six eggs, a pound of flour, 3/4 pound each of butter and sugar. I filled five loaf pans.

Tonight, I'm getting out the cheesecloth and brandy, and giving them a good soak before I put them away to cure. It's a good thing husby likes the stuff, because he'll be eating it all year.

While I was at it, I used some left-over fruit to make a loaf of fruit bread for lunches, made blueberry muffins and a loaf of bread (thank you, bread machine). I cooked up a batch of spaghetti sauce for later on in the week, and a nice roast of pork with root vegetables and apple cider.

On top of all that, I have one Christmas story planned out, and 1500 words written for another. And I don't even have the challenge parameters yet! LOL! If it doesn't involve guys huddling for warmth in a freezing garret, I'm SOL.

And thanks to the inestimable thayln, I may have gotten through the elephant road block.

Life is good.

Thinking of You

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:29:09 GMT

A lot of people on my f-list are going through rough times right now. I'm holding you all in my prayers, for strength, health, and peace.

Glitter Graphics - GlitterLive.com

Traveling Again

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:17:35 GMT

Husby and I are going to England again in December.

There was a nice seat sale last month, and so we grabbed tickets while the price was down. Just as well: they've never been that low again, and the flight we're leaving on is now sold out. We're leaving on the 12th, and coming back in time to spend actual Christmas with my mother.

Husby wants to go to visit the Eden Project, (http://www.edenproject.com/) and I'd kind of like to see Stonehenge, so we'll be heading down that way before we go over to Essex to the family. The internet is great for this; if you book far enough in advance there's excellent deals on hotel rooms (19 pounds at Travelodge!) and on train fares. On the one hand, it does limit our flexibility; on the other hand, the savings are so big it's stupid not to do it. (I often think husby would make a great travel agent. He's really good at finding deals, and off-the-beaten-path attractions.)

I foresee footpaths and cider and fish and chips in newspaper. I'll try to sneak in some shopping at The Body Shop and M&S (clothes that fit! \o/) and real English tea (even if I have to get it at the duty free at Heathrow). I suppose it's too much to hope for that MS would be performing somewhere so close to Christmas.

msmoat, will I be crossing paths with you anywhere along the line?

Happy Birthday, Mara!

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:59:52 GMT

Happy Birthday Glitter Graphics

Holding Up Half the Sky

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:38:45 GMT

This morning I was up at the crack to head into the alma mater to attend our local Persons' Day Breakfast.

Persons' Day breakfasts are put on in many cities across the country in mid-October by the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) to commemorate the Persons Case of 1929.

Before 1929, women were not considered to be "persons" under the law in Canada. Women, in the words of a British jurist, could be subject to the pains and penalties of the law, but not benefit from the rights and responsibilities (talk about taxation without representation!). In 1916, Emily Murphy, an author and suffragist was appointed the first female magistrate in the British empire. On her first day on the bench, one of her rulings was challenged by a defense lawyer on the grounds that as a woman, Murphy was not a legal person, and thus not eligible to hold the position of magistrate at all. Though the court in Alberta ultimately decided in her favour, this was only a provincial decision. Murphy and four of her colleagues decided to test the principle across the country by putting forward her name to be appointed to the Senate. The Prime Minster of the day rejected her, again specifically on the grounds that as a woman, she was not legally a person.

When the case went to the Supreme Court, the women lost. They then appealed to the Privy Council in England, then the highest court of appeal. In October of 1929, the ruling was made that women were in fact qualified persons for all positions. "Exclusion of women from all public offices is a relic of days more barbarous than ours. And to those who would ask why the word "person" should include females, the obvious answer is, why should it not?"

Sculpture commemorating the Persons Case: Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, Irene Parlby, Henrietta Edwards.

In Place on Parliament Hill

In itself, the breakfast is more a token - some fruit and mini-muffins and coffee or tea. It's really a fund-raiser, so there's not much money put into actual food. Today's guest speaker was a senator and philanthropist who has put a lot of her time and money into promoting the cause of women's equality. Some of the causes are important, some trivial, but in the end, I think that anything that shakes out to a more or less equal position for men and women is to be applauded.

I've been a feminist from a very early age, and I think a lot of that is due to growing up on a farm - no girl who's handled an eighty horsepower tractor and a four-furrow plough at age twelve will ever think she's inferior to anybody. The difference between what I knew I could do, and what I was told I could not do, was so glaring that I just tuned out a lot of the nonsense. Feminism gets sneered at a lot these days (what's new?) but my response is always the same: ask my Granma, who was in her thirties before she had the right to vote. Ask my Aunt J, who had to get her husband's permission to withdraw money she had earned out of the bank. Ask me, who got told by my biology teacher that girls didn't have what it took to succeed in university.

We're not going back.

Vid Rec

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:30:07 GMT

lauramcewan's new S&H vid, When I'm Sixty-Four.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_KY-u_Ci78

Whether you're into gen or slash, it's a joy to watch, because it plays either way: as two guys sharing a life-long friendship, or as a courtship and relationship story.

Even if you're not into Starsky and Hutch, just check out the technique. The way the rhythm of the action fits into the rhythm of the music (a trademark of Laura's - this woman's got a gift for finding those moments). The way the clips seem to have been designed to fit with the lyrics.

It's bright, it's bouncy, it's fun - and the last few seconds left me, at least, laughing out loud with a tear in my eye.

Congratulations!

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 23:57:01 GMT

To lauramcewan, winner of the Paula Wilshe award this year.

Glitter Graphics - GlitterLive.com

Happy Birthday

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 23:54:03 GMT

To andreathelion

Happy Birthday Glitter Graphics

I'm Not Dead Yet

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:05:28 GMT

I just feel like it.

The first couple of weeks of term are always rough. October will be better.

The weather's changing, and my arthritis is acting up. Once the weather system clears through I should be able to bend my fingers and knees again. This afternoon, I actually blew off the chores I should have been doing, and did a bit of totally unimportant paperwork just because it meant I could sit down for an hour or two and take the weight off my feet.

I'm too tired to write. That whooshing sound is another deadline sailing right on by without a post. I tried, I really did, but since I'm dropping off to sleep before nine at night it's a little hard to do anything but eat, sleep and work.

Here endeth the pity-party.

You Can't Get There From Here

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:14:17 GMT

But then, you can't get anywhere else either.

Last winter, everyone in our town seemed to have a collective attack of hysteria on the subject of potholes in roads. Every issue of every newspaper, every radio show, every public venue, was filled with vociferous complaints about the state of the roads, and how all our politicians should be strung up by the toenails until Something Got Done. (And to be fair, some of the roads were in horrendous condition, due to the weird temperature fluctuations, which led to regular freezing and thawing of surface water.)

So, this spring when the economy went into the toilet, and the feds started shoveling out "stimulus" money, our city government decided to put all the cash they got into road repairs. As a result, almost every major road in the city has been dug up all summer, and looks to stay that way until the snow starts. There are traffic jams everywhere, all the time. I've been leaving home at least half an hour early in the morning to make sure I make it to work, and in the evenings there's no point in even trying to start for home until well after five - the traffic is usually backed up close to a kilometre from the alma mater's front gate all the way down to the main road. I haven't been to the bank in nearly a month because the logistics of getting there are just about insurmountable, and one evening I circled the grocery store plaza three times before I finally figured out how to work my way around the pylons and into the entrance way.

What really puzzles me is how long some stuff is taking. In August I was away for over two weeks between holidays and field camp, and when I came back, the same set of concrete pipes was sitting by the roadside where it had been before I left. What did they do in those seventeen days?

I'll tell you one thing: if I hear anybody whine about potholes this winter, they're going to get a good smack upside the head from me.

Back to the Dark Ages (H1N1 version)

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:10:13 GMT

OK.

So.

The alma mater has decided that one way to cut costs will be reduce the number of times each week that the cleaning staff sweeps, mops and empties the garbage. (Toilets are apparently exempt from this cutback.)

At the same time, every door in every building now has a hand sanitizer dispenser by it, and huge signs instructing people to disinfect themselves on pain of imminent respiratory collapse.

Why does this image keep coming to mind?

Happy Birthday, sc_fossil

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:53:23 GMT

LJ didn't like the thingy I made for you, so this will have to substitute. Enjoy the day!

Happy Birthday Glitter Graphics

September Morn

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:27:58 GMT

This is not me *BG*. But I did stop on the way to work this morning and dive into the lake (decently covered in my Speedo, though). I've been wanting to do it all week, because the weather's been so summery. So off came the helmet and clothes, and into the water I went. The lake was calm as a table-top, and while I wouldn't call the water "warm", it was comfortable and refreshing. It wasn't a long swim, just ten minutes to stop thinking about all the chores I should be finishing today and haven't got a hope in hell of getting through.

There's things I can change and things I can't, and part of staying sane is never losing sight of the difference.

I'll just add that after last night, I can add a hearty late-Victorian chorus of "The Boys Are Back In Town". I'm not white-hot yet, but there's words on pages.

Back in Black

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:42:49 GMT

Home again, and immediately back to work. Sweep, clean, wash, put away - feel more like a charwoman sometimes than a technologist. (Though in half an hour I'm having a TA meeting, and then I'd better have my game face on.) I'm beginning to feel a stir of panic: there's NO way I can get everything done by Monday that must be done, let alone some of the "would be nice" optional thingies. And I truly resent having to come in on weekends, especially when we're finally having nice weather.

I'll talk about my trip to Quebec as soon as I find the connector cable for my camera so I can download some pictures. ::sheepish shuffle::

Field camp was great this year. I enjoyed it, and it honestly felt almost more like a break than work. There were fifteen people in the group, which is just about the perfect size: large enough to make it worthwhile having me along, but not so large as to overwhelm me.) They were all grateful eaters as well, without any allergies or other problems. My baking went over well, too. The fruit crisp, the brownies and the apple cake all vanished to the last crumb as soon as my back was turned. We ran out of store-bought cookies one day, and so I baked cookies as well (hadn't done that before). I made ten dozen cookies in one morning and they ate nine dozen in 24 hours! By noon the next day there were eight lonely oatmeal-raisin cookies sitting abandoned at the bottom of the bin. That was it.

I had been worried about the weather, because our summer has been so wet and cool. Students can get cranky in day after day of rain. But the day we left for camp, the weather changed. It hasn't rained since, and it's warmer than it's been all summer. We've now had two weeks of sunshine and heat. I've done more swimming in September than I did all summer, and I finally have a tan.

We didn't catch any small mammals, because the raccoons found the trap line and broke into them for the bait as fast as they got set. But we saw otters down at the harbour, and deer and a bear. There's a huge old apple tree right next to the mess hall, and every day, the bear would stroll by, climb the tree and have an apple snack. Paid no attention to us, and we were taking pictures from waaaay too close. (I have about half a dozen lovely pictures of a tree, with maybe a little black blur somewhere as he moved. *g*)

Shit. Off to the students.

And we won't be back 'til the money's all gone

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:25:04 GMT

Tomorrow I'm heading out on holiday. Husby has a conference in Quebec City, and I'm going along to do the tourist thing. I love Quebec - we've been there several times before, and I'm looking forward to sightseeing and good food. The conference hotel looks like a gem; unfortunately, we're staying at the university residence down the road. *g*

I'll be getting home just in time to repack the duffel bag, and then head out for eight days of student field camp. Cooking from dawn 'til dusk, trouble-shooting equipment and managing supplies. Whoo-hoo. Usually I enjoy it, since early autumn is a good time at the park. There's a lovely beach, and I can usually get in a couple of short hikes if I manage my time well. But so far this summer it's rained something like five days out of seven and that doesn't look it'll change any time soon. Damp and chilled is our world. On the other hand,we've got snug cabins to stay in, there's heat and running water, and I can cook up a storm. I've got a whole research and writing plan mapped out too, in case I have some spare time.

I may be popping in occasionally next week, if I can catch some ether, but the following week I'm definitely off the grid. Be good. Write lots!